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Gardening expert reveals his ingenious trick for checking whether a dead-looking plant is alive and healthy

This quick and easy test will help you decipher if plants are actually dead or are in winter dormancy

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picture of dormant plant in pot
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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Once the worst of the winter weather passes, your garden might resemble a plant graveyard, but that doesn't technically mean your beloved plants are actually dead.

When you're sorting your garden out during the winter months, it can look like a rather dire affair, with leafless twigs and barren pots. However, don't fall for another winter gardening myth; just because a plant isn't actively growing doesn't mean it's dead. In fact, even the most hopeless-looking plants can actually be the healthiest.

Garden experts genius trick for checking if a plant is alive

Even when you've done all you can to protect plants from frost and wet weather, most perennials will look a little sad when spring starts to roll around. Especially if you deadheaded your plants properly in early autumn, they might look like empty branches.

"Now, if you're worried your plants haven't made it throughout the winter, there's a really easy trick to be able to find out," starts Ish.

Before you throw your plants on your homemade compost pile or banish them to the garden waste bin, you need to complete this quick, simple, but effective test.

"So, for example, like this hydrangea I've got here, I rescued this from the garden centre, and it looks completely long gone," says Ish.

"But you do something known as the scratch test, where you just scratch at the base of the stem and take some of that bark off, and if it's green underneath, then this is perfectly fine," he explains.

"In fact, it's just dormant, and it should be happy and healthy throughout the course of summer. But unfortunately, if it is brown underneath, that means it's too far gone, and it's dead," he continues.

picture of dead-looking plant in pot

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Even if you're not checking your own plants while crossing off your February gardening jobs, you can use this trick when picking up new additions.

"But the cool thing is when you go to your local garden centres, and you're down the sale rail, you can do this little test to see whether it's worth buying or not and bag yourself what should have been a ten-pound hydrangea for 50p," finishes Ish.

As with most of Ish's gardening wisdom, I was massively impressed with the trick and had to try it on my own hydrangeas to see if it really worked.

picture of dormant hydrangea and close up of scratch trick

I immediately put Ish's tip to the test on a hydrangea in my garden

(Image credit: Emily Smith)

After scratching one of the external branches and not finding green, I was not only dubious but also beginning to mourn my hydrangea plant. However, going further into the plant for one of the larger, more central stems showed that it is actually alive and well.

I can't wait to use this trick at my local garden centre when I'm working on transforming my garden on a budget this year. That sale rail better be prepared for me!

Shop gardening essentials

To ensure your plants survive the winter, we'd recommend learning about overwintering and how it can protect your plants from the weather ahead.

Emily Smith
Emily Smith
Digital lifestyle writer

Emily joined woman&home as a staff writer after finishing her MA in Magazine Journalism from City University in 2023. After writing various health and news content, she now specialises in lifestyle, covering unique cleaning hacks, gardening how-tos, and everything to help your houseplants thrive.

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